Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Let's see if we can create a little argument and disagreement to start with!

Last time, I wrote of the "Omni-Everything-God" conceived by the Greeks and pagans eons ago. This god is really no different than any of the other gods of the mythical gods who do not exist. This god is One, he is all powerful, all wise, all knowing, everywhere present, all everything. Just like Zeus, Diana, Osiris, Isis, and any and all of the other non-gods of antiquity.

These gods "exist" in the minds of their devotees to be honored, glorified, worshipped, and of course PRAISED at any opportunity which may arise. This god lives on , thrives on, rides on, is exalted by, and revels in the PRAISES of his followers. Again, this 'Omni-god' does NOT exist. While this may sound good to the Western mind deluded by Plato's philosophy of god, it is far from the truth. So what is the truth?

God is FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT. Triune God exists in a face to face loving relationship in the Trinity. He created us , not to tell Him how great He is and spend all of our time 'praising' Him, but to LIVE. Live life as He created it ABUNDANTLY. John 10:10. He wants us to live free as a bird in Jesus Christ. He wants us to acknowledge what He has done to us and for us and in us and through us IN Jesus Christ. This knowing allows us to live as He designed us to live. And, not only live this abundant life NOW, but to live it eternally with Him and IN Him through Jesus by the Holy Spirit FOREVER.

The True Triune God is ALL about Relationships. The relationship He has within the Trinity and the relationships He has created us to be WITHIN that Trinity forever. Remember, Eternal Life is KNOWING THE FATHER- THE TRUE GOD.

Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit does not NEED or require our continual Praise. It is not the fuel that fires His engines. His greatness is not enhanced by our pandering. He wants us to LIVE now and forever abundantly in Jesus and INSIDE of His Triune existence in RELATIONSHIP. Father to son. Son to Father. Father to daughter. Daughter to Father. All made possible and assured in Jesus Christ.

He is NOT the OMNI Potentate that Plato devised and handed down nine hundred years later to St. Augustine of Hyppo--considered to be the father of the Catholic Church.

We live in the life of God now. Jesus lives in all of humanity now. All humanity lives in Jesus now.( John 14:20.) God simply wants us to enjoy what He has blessed us with in Jesus ( Eph.1:3-14) and in so doing this Praises is all the Praise that is of any consequence. This knowing engenders Thankfulness and praise on our behalf as we become filled with assurance, acceptance and love. Triune God did not create us to Praise Him. He created us to Live with Him and in Him forever.

Sorry if I have burst any one's bubble. Enjoy LIFE. It praises the Father.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Since you live in the West, as I, you grew up with the concept of God which went something like this: God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, All-wise, All-knowing, All-Powerful, Creator, unchangeable, unmovable, and Vengeful. Hating mankind's sins and holding for eternal punishment the fires of Hell and unimaginable suffering for the humans who don't measure up to His standards. He is vengeful, unaccepting of anything other than holy perfection, punishing, distant, separated from us humans, and unapproachable and unable to look upon sin. I could go on and on about this OMNI-GOD, OR "OGRE GOD" as some refer to him as, but I won't. What I have just described to you , and you can check it out on the Internet or in books, is the God of the Greeks touted by Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and other ancient philosophers such as Kant, Descartes, and other famous Greeks. So do YOUR homework if you doubt what I say here. That god out of the minds of the pagan philosophers simply DOES NOT EXIST.

What is missing in the description above? Well for one thing that god is totally one who wants and needs to be SERVED, WORSHIPED, PRAISED, PATRONIZED, PANDERED TO, and one who is the unknowable Potentate. If he existed at all, he is there to be exalted from vainglorious self seeking exultation. Wait!!! He does NOT exist!!

And that is GOOD NEWS!!! So what is God like? Who is God? How is God? Now we get to the really good part.

God is and has forever been , FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT in a LOVE Relationship. He is the ONE Triune God. He is love and He loves you and me. He accepts us and LIKES us. He does not always approve everything we do. He is the one in Gen.1:26-27 who said let us make man in our image and likeness. God had never experienced humanness and by creating humans now would be able to adopt mankind into His life and love forever made possible by the Incarnation and life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. God wanted to share the Holy relationship He had had within the Trinity with now His human family. God simply loved all of His creation BEFORE anything was ever created and wanted to live with all of us forever.

There are several powerful scriptures that make this plain. Notice: II Tim.1:9, God saved us BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF TIME. Eph.1:4-7, "He chose us in Him to be blameless IN HIS SIGHT, (not ours), adopted, Included, and predetermined it so IN Jesus according to His pleasure and His will."

We read Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world, in Rev.13:8. The all time Saviour IN PERPETUITY. God has always had relationship with His family, with Him, in the forefront of His thinking since He devised the plan originally. He gives us LIFE in His Son forever and assures our being with Him and IN Him.

Finally, in Ephesians 2:6-9, we read that God IN Christ has taken all of humanity and raised all of us up with Jesus and seated us all at the right hand of the Father in the Heavenly Realms. Quite different from the Ogre God of the pagans. ( Who does NOT exist.)

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit want to live in RELATIONSHIP based on LOVE with all of their family FOREVER. YOU ARE INCLUDED. You are Adopted. You are loved, You are wanted, You are the child God has always wanted since before time began.. Can you believe this or are you still cowering under the false concept of the Ogre, Pagan , nameless, Omni God who really doesn't like you and only loves you when you PERFORM to His standard?

Lord, Help our darkened minds to See who YOU really are and who we really are in You.

Jesus, Light of the World, come and shine upon us all and let us see. ( John 8:12).

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

.In Matthew 20 we read the parable of the vineyard workers each receiving the same amount of money for whatever period of time each worked in the vineyard on this given day. The same amount, a denarius, was given to each no matter how long each labored in the vineyard. Well, I see a great point of Trinitarian Adoption and Inclusion of God in this parable. Not money!!!

If one were to look at this parable from a monetary standpoint only, then it really makes no sense to anyone that it would be fair to pay a worker, worthy of his hire, the same amount if he worked for one hour or for twelve hours. This is not the real point of the parable. True enough, the land owner can pay whatever amount was agreed upon, but the parable is NOT about "payment".

I think the key verse here is verse 14. "....I want to GIVE the man who was hired last the same as I gave you, the first." The point is about God GIVING. Not what is earned or expected.

I see Jesus as the owner of the vineyard which is the human experience of all of humanity laboring on earth and no matter what is strived for, worked for, or accomplished by human efforts, do NOT affect Jesus, the Vinyard owner, and His GIVING of His right to GIVE Life to everyone simply because He wants to. The vineyard owner said, " I have the right to do with my gifts, ie, heavenly blessings -- Ephesians 1:3-6, as I so choose." And so does Jesus!

In these verses in Ephesians 1:3-6 , we see all of humanity, all the workers in the vineyard of humanity, being given and blessed with everything God has to bless us all with. It can not be worked for or earned. It can only be accepted and believed by all of us and received with gladness and thankfulness.

About Me

Pastor Paul Kurts grew up in Mississippi and graduated from Mississippi State University (BA, 1966), and from Ambassador University (BA in Theology, 1972).
His advance studies include numerous classes in Theology. Paul is married to Patrica McGraw and the Kurts have three grown children and two grandsons. Pastors Paul and Patrica (Pat) have pastored churches around the eastern United States for over 35 years. Pastor Paul's interests lie in music, art, history, poetry, athletics, flying, golf, theology and ministry. Pastor Paul Kurts is a "UNIVERSALIST IN HOPE" for everyone. He is NOT a proponent of "UNIVERSAL SALVATION" . While ALL humans have been adopted and chosen in Jesus from before the foundation of the world, some, apparently, will refuse to accept this and beieve it. And, their 'perishing' can continue indefinitelly.